


These Four Walls

by killthecouncil



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Action, Angst, Fluff and Angst, FrostIron - Freeform, Stucky - Freeform, ill add tags as i go i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:20:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23500708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killthecouncil/pseuds/killthecouncil
Summary: Tony wakes up in a concrete room with no doors. With him, he has the Avengers, as well as... Loki. As they all try to figure out why they're there and how to get out, Tony can't help but try to figure out why Loki is so different to the man Tony remembers.Imagine it's a few months to a year after Avengers because it's set before Avengers: Age of Ultron; also, Bucky's here because I want him to be and Tony and Steve don't hate each other ok thanks
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Loki/Tony Stark
Comments: 14
Kudos: 50





	These Four Walls

The second Tony wakes up, he knows something’s off. It could be the hard concrete he’s lying on, the strange, artificial lighting, or it might be the green eyes that meet his the second he opens them.

“What the FUCK”, he screams, clambering to his feet and taking a step backwards, immediately colliding with a wall.

Loki’s on his knees, hands hovering over Thor- who’s seemingly unconscious- and wary gaze meeting his own. Defensive instinct immediately kicks in, a useful reflex he’s developed over the course of the Avengers project. He steadies himself and says, in a very cold tone, “get away from him.”

There’s just one problem: Tony doesn’t have his gauntlets. Not a single part of his suit graces his body, and he feels impossibly vulnerable when faced down with (not quite, but nearly) his worst enemy in nothing but jeans and t-shirt.

In his peripheral, he sees the remainder of the strange, square room. It’s maybe thirteen feet between floor and ceiling, thirty by thirty feet wide, and all the same, dark gray concrete. There’s no doors, no windows, no furniture; only the unconscious bodies of his teammates- Thor, Bruce, Natasha, Steve, Clint and wait, is that _Bucky_?- and a very-much-awake Loki are present aside from himself.

“No”, Loki says. 

“ _Get away from him_ ”, Tony repeats in the most icy and intimidating tone he can muster. 

Loki shakes his head. “He’s injured”, he says softly, gesturing to Thor. There’s something in his gaze that throws Tony off, something almost gentle that he didn’t expect to see there. “I can’t- I can’t help him.”

Tony pushes down the need to run over and check up on Thor himself. Until he knows what’s going on, he’s not going to get any closer to Loki than he has to. “Why are we here?” he questions, crossing his arms. 

Loki purses his lips, exasperation seeping into his voice when he speaks. “I don’t know that.” 

Tony stares at him for several silent seconds. Something’s wrong with Loki; where is the aggression and sardonicism? _He’s probably trying to trick me into getting closer. This is all an elaborate trap on his part._ “You seem awfully calm for someone who doesn’t know what’s going on.”

“What do you want me to do?” Loki asks, slowly getting to his feet. The muscles in Tony’s legs and shoulders tense, anticipating a fight-or-flight situation. “There’s only two alternatives: either you’ve brought me here, or we’ve all been brought here by a third party. Seeing as mere mortals, even with the help of my dear brother, shouldn’t be able to pull this off, I presume it’s not you. There’s no use getting hostile when we’re in the same boat.”

“And what if it’s you?” Tony questions, voice harsh. “What if you’ve brought us all here to kill us?”

“Would you not be dead already?” Loki asks, annoyance coloring his tone. “What could I possibly gain from being stuck in a doorless room with you?”

Tony hesitates. “Information? I don’t fucking know.”

A groan to his left makes him startle. He refuses to take his eyes off of Loki, however, so he’s not sure who caused the sound. Loki, however, seems less reluctant to look away, eyes shifting to the side. “It’s your Captain America”, he says. “Perhaps he’ll know what’s going on.”

“Steve?” Tony calls. 

“Tony? What’s going on?”

“Apparently not.” Loki sighs. Tony catches his gaze moving quickly to Thor before it returns to the two of them, no less inquisitive than before. Tony will admit that he feels more safe with Steve by his side (perhaps less so than if Steve were to be standing up, but still).

“Loki?!” the sight of the god has Steve on his feet immediately. That seems to have been a poor decision as he begins to sway on the spot, very nearly falling before Tony stabilizes him with an arm over his shoulder. The much taller and larger man leans on him for support. Tony shifts into a wider stance to compensate for the added weight.

“That’s me”, Loki says with a small wave. 

“Why are you being so weird?” Tony finally brings himself to ask. Loki simply tilts his head to the side, another very un-Loki mannerism, and Tony continues. “Based on previous encounters, you’re more… A very angry cat. Than this.”

“There’s more to those encounters than you know”, Loki says. 

“Well, that’s not vague”, Tony snarks. Steve finally manages to recover and separates from Tony, who rolls his shoulders and fixes Loki with a glare. “Now, I suggest you-”

Thor groans. Loki’s attention instantly moves from Tony to his brother. He falls to his knees next to the larger man and reaches a hand out, hesitating at the last second. Both Steve and Tony drop into fighting stance. Tony suddenly remembers that, while he may not have his gauntlets, Steve at least has his super-strength intact. _Oh, thank god_. 

“Loki?” Thor murmurs, squinting his eyes. Loki’s bent over him, long, black hair (much longer than the last time Tony saw him, when he thinks about it) nearly touching Thor’s face. “Loki, what happened?”

“I don’t know. Your friends are here”, Loki replies, raising a hand to put his hair behind his ear. Thor turns his head to look at the two of them, still ready to fight but much more confused now, and his face breaks out into a smile. 

“Stark! Captain! It’s been a while- ow!”

“Don’t move, you berk”, Loki snaps, pushing down on Thor’s chest to get him to lie back down. “You’re injured.”

“Yes, yes, brother”, Thor says and rolls his eyes. “Hey, where are we, by the way?”

“We don’t know”, Tony says. “Perhaps your brother could answer that for us.” He still hasn’t let go of the suspicion that this is all Loki’s doing.

Thor’s eyebrows furrow. He looks up at Loki, who shakes his head. “Why would he know such a thing?”

“Why wouldn’t he? Seems to me like he might’ve brought us here in the first place. It was hardly us, which he seems to think, since most of us are _unconscious_ ”, Tony snarks. Thor quickly looks around the room, brows raised.

Steve does the same, apparently for the first time because he immediately startles. “Bucky!” he yells, running across the room and kneeling beside his friend.

“I said I _don’t_ believe it’s you”, Loki says. “Most likely it’s a third party, as I also said.”

“And why should we believe that, huh?” Tony insists. “You haven’t exactly been transparent about your intentions before, have you?”

“ _Because_ ”, Loki responds, taking a deep, frustrated breath, “I don’t have my fucking magic.”

Thor’s eyes widen. He tries to get back up again, but Loki insistently pushes him down. “What do you mean, brother?”

“I mean this”, Loki says, raising his arms. The sleeves of his tunic- green, with elaborate golden embroidery along the hems- fall down and reveal strange-looking bracelets encircling his wrists. They appear to be made of gold, with pale, violet gems embedded into the metal. If Tony squints he can see strange, indecipherable writing carved into them. It all means very little to him, but Thor gasps loudly.

“Brother! Who put these on you?”

“I don’t _know_ that”, Loki snaps. “But that’s not the point. The point is that I’d hardly put these on- they _block my magic_ \- willingly, let alone in this company.”

“Wait, so you can’t do magic?” Steve asks, looking up.

“That’s what I said”, Loki snaps irritably. 

Tony’s mind is running a mile a minute. If those manacles truly are what Loki said they are- and they seem to be, based on Thor’s reaction- then it becomes less likely that this is all Loki’s doing. Unless they’re fake, this is all a trap, and they’re all going to die. But if that _isn’t_ the case, then he can understand why Loki got so snappy all of a sudden: he’s just admitted to a major weakness in a room full of enemies. He probably feels the same way that Tony does without his gauntlets on, except he’s got one enemy and several allies, not the other way around. Which, about that…

“Thor, you seem awfully calm about Loki being here.” 

“What do you mean?” Thor questions. Loki busies himself with looking at something on Thor’s abdomen, likely whatever injury he’d previously mentioned, and avoids their eyes.

“I mean, last time you two were in the same room- that we know of- you put a muzzle on him and flew him back to Asgard to be tried in court.” Tony doesn’t miss the way Loki’s shoulders raise in response to his words.

Thor frowns. “Time has passed since then, Stark. My brother and I have reconciled.”

“Yeah, you went from mortal enemies to calling each other brother real quick”, Tony replies.

Thor shakes his head with a sad smile. “Loki still refuses to address me as a brother, I’m afraid.” Tony opens his mouth to dispute this- Loki just did so, like, ten minutes ago- but falters at the venomous glare Loki sends his way. 

“I can’t heal you.” Loki grazes Thor’s abdomen with his fingertips, shaking his head slowly.

“That’s all right. I can barely feel it, surely it will heal in just a few moments”, Thor assures him. Then he does something that sends shock through Tony, down to his bones: he reaches a hand up and combs it through Loki’s hair in a decidedly _affectionate_ gesture. And _Loki doesn’t chop his hand off for it_. He does, however, send another withering glare their way to keep them quiet.

“Wha- _Bucky_!”

“Ugh”, the brunet gets out, rolling onto his side. “St… eve?” 

“Yes, I’m here”, Steve reassures him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Are you all right? Are you injured?”

“I’m fine”, Bucky says. “What’s going on?”

Tony sighs. “Are we going to have to go over this _every_ time someone new wakes up?” Then a sudden realization strikes him and chills him to his bones: what if they don’t all wake up? Are they _alive_ ? Fuck, he’s such a bad teammate, he hasn’t even _checked_. He gets to work on doing exactly that while Steve explains the situation to his friend. 

He checks Natasha last, and it’s when his fingertips graze her pulse point that she comes to life. Tony doesn’t know what exactly happens after that, only that he’s suddenly on the ground a few feet away, feeling shockwaves pulse through his body. “Ow”, he says weakly.

“What are you doing?” Natasha asks. It sounds more like a demand than a question.

“Checking to see if you’re alive? You might need to do the same with me, I think you killed me.”

“Loki!”

“Here we go again”, Tony says with an eyeroll.

“It really is getting tiresome”, Loki agrees. “Hello, Black Widow. No, I don’t know why you’re here, nor why I’m here. I’m not going to attack you and I’d prefer it if you return that favor.”

Natasha slowly gets up, not taking her eyes off of Loki before she notices Clint slumped over in the opposite corner. “He’s alive”, Tony tells her. Relief passes over her face for a brief second- she must really be jarred to let that show.

Bruce comes to shortly after that. After explaining the situation for perhaps the third time, Tony is starting to go insane. Having to repeat over and over again that no, they don’t know what’s going on, yes, Loki is right there, please _stop freaking out or I’ll freak out too_ , is giving him a headache. Somehow, Bruce manages to keep the big guy under wraps, which is quite the feat considering they’re stuck in a doorless dungeon with the worst terrorist of their time.

Tony starts to appreciate how easy the others were to deal with when Clint wakes up, because he _definitely_ is not easy to handle. The second Clint lays eyes on Loki, he’s on his feet and lunging forward, hands extending in front of him like claws. The strangest thing about it is that Loki doesn’t mirror the aggression; instead, he swiftly gets on his feet and sidesteps the man to avoid a collision. Clint recovers quickly, however, and goes after Loki once more. Before Loki can even block the blow, Thor’s gripping Clint’s extended arm and lifting him by it. 

“Do not touch my brother!” he yells, shaking the man. Clint winces, but still has that enraged look in his eyes, gaze firmly on Loki’s.

“Thor, put him down”, Loki insists. There’s a desperate undertone in his voice that surprises Tony. 

“Not if he’s going to try to harm you”, Thor replies with determination.

“Me? Harm _him_? YOU KNOW WHAT HE DID TO ME!” Clint screams, fighting Thor’s grip. No one moves a muscle, too afraid to provoke either one of them to get involved. 

“He was not in control of his actions”, Thor says with finality. 

“Thor, you’ll break his arm.”

“I cannot release him while he still poses a threat to you.”

“ _Brother_ , let him go.”

Clint drops to the floor, knees buckling. Natasha rushes up to steady him. The look in his eyes is positively caustic as he moves back to his corner. 

“I wish you wouldn’t call me brother only when it benefits you.”

Loki smirks. “I’ll continue to do so until it stops working.”

Tony clears his throat. “So, now that we’re all awake, what’s the game plan?”

“What’s the last thing everyone remembers before waking up here?” Steve asks, getting to his feet. 

“I was shopping for groceries”, Bruce says. He’s sitting down, leaning against the wall to Tony’s left. To Tony’s right, Loki is forcing Thor to sit back down and getting seated next to him. He can’t help but stare, that is, until Loki sneers at him.

“Loki and I were setting up our tent on a Norwegian beach”, Thor contributes. 

Tony’s eyes just about bulge out of his skull. “You were on _Earth_?”

Thor smiles sheepishly. “Yes, we-”

“Long story”, Loki interrupts. “The important part is that we were in Norway. It was mid-afternoon.”

Bruce hums. “I was out in the morning, and the time difference between America and Norway… It was probably the same time.”

“I was in my workshop.” Tony cringes at the idea that whatever put them here had access to him inside his own tower. That tower is the only place he tends to feel safe, but even Jarvis couldn’t alert him to anything suspicious, it seems. “I don’t know what time it was.”

“Bucky and I were… doing laundry, that’s it.” Steve chews on his lip. Bucky is still half-lying on the ground, watching them all with interest. They’re a few feet down from Bruce on Tony’s left.

“Clint and I were in the Czech Republic”, Natasha informs them from Clint’s corner to Tony’s right. “Afternoon as well. Seems likely that we were all brought here at the same time, then.”

“Or at least that’s when we got knocked out”, Tony says. “Now onto the question of where ‘here’ is.”

“I don’t sense any traces of magic, not that my senses are necessarily reliable right now”, Loki says, sounding bitter.

“Oh, by the way, Clint, Loki doesn’t have any magic right now. So you can stop looking at him like he’ll kill you any second.” Tony receives heated glares from both sides of that conflict and raises his hands in a disarming gesture. “Just saying.”

“So… A concrete, square, doorless room.” Bruce furrows his eyebrows. “Where’s the light coming from?”

“Now that I think about it, I have no idea”, Tony replies, looking around the room. It really is just concrete. Thankfully dry, and thankfully not very cold concrete, but plain and smooth with no indication of any light source or way out. If the room wasn’t decently sized, he might’ve had a claustrophobia-driven panic attack, and he imagines he will if they stay for much longer.

The light isn’t blinding nor very dim, and appears exactly as if it were to come from the lamps in the ceiling: evenly distributed across the room with nothing special to it. It’s less yellowish than the average lamp, almost completely white, like sunlight.

“I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this before”, Natasha states. The others shake their heads in bemusement. Loki is still sitting close to Thor, now staring intently at the floor with his legs curled up in front of him. Tony imagines that it must be pretty uncomfortable to be in his position- surrounded by people who want to kill you (but does Tony want that? He doesn’t imagine it would help in this particular instance. Not only would they have to spend the rest of their time in captivity alongside a corpse, he’d also be dead himself within mere seconds courtesy of Thor). 

Loki looks different to the last time Tony saw him, not only in demeanor, but in appearance. His hair reaches his ribs and looks much healthier than before. He’s also got a more slight frame than Tony remembers: narrower shoulders, a slimmer waist, perhaps even a shorter stature.

Of course he can’t help but to ask. “You look different, Reindeer Games”, he notes, cursing his own tongue while also unable to tamper the curiosity. “Where’s those wide shoulders o’ yours?”

“My magic might be gone, but I _can_ still kill you, Stark.”

The second he finishes the sentence, a loud snapping sound erupts in the room and Loki, very suddenly, is lying several feet away from where he’d been sitting, twitching violently. 

“Brother!” Thor yells, crawling over to his brother’s shaking form. 

“Don’t touch him!” Tony yells. Thor does, however, touch him. The twitching immediately stops, the tension leaving Loki’s body. “Okay, maybe do touch him.”

“It’s electricity”, Thor says. “Something shocked him.”

“And it wasn’t you, just so we’re clear?”

Thor shoots an angry look at Tony before turning back to his brother. “Loki? Brother, are you all right?”

Loki doesn’t reply. Instead, he rolls onto his side and bends his arms so that they cover his face. 

“What the hell was that?” Bucky asks, eyebrows raised high. 

“Loki, could you tell where it came from?” Steve asks, approaching slowly. 

“The wall”, comes the mumbled answer. “Ow.” Thor frowns and gently pats his brother’s side. Tony wonders if this is what their relationship used to be like, and if it has returned to that point since Tony last saw them together.

“The wall shocked you because you threatened to kill me?” Tony asks.

The others seem startled by the connection Tony’s made. “You think it punished him?” Bruce questions. He’s looking at Loki warily, as if he wants to, as a medical professional, take a look, but knows that getting close to this specific person might be an awful idea.

Tony shrugs. “Seems possible, doesn’t it?”

“Wouldn’t it have done the same to Clint?” Steve questions.

“Maybe the wall fucking hates him”, Clint suggests with a smirk.

“Clint didn’t actually land a hit, and he didn’t threaten him”, Bruce reasons, “so maybe it doesn’t count?”

“I’d love to test this theory but I’ll have to ask someone else to volunteer, seeing as… You know… I _don’t_ want a heart attack”, Tony says, pointing at his chest as if the implication wasn’t obvious.

“I’ll do it”, Bucky offers.

“No you won’t”, Steve says, eyes shooting daggers at him. “Or did you forget your arm is made of metal?” Bucky huffs.

“Anyone else?” Tony asks.

“If it dealt that much damage to Loki I’m not sure a regular human should be trying it out”, Natasha points out.

“Well, that leaves me, doesn’t it?” Steve asks, sighing.

“You don’t have to”, Tony quickly states, but Steve has a determined glint in his eyes.

“I’d rather we figure out the rules of whatever this is as soon as possible”, he says and walks over to a wall, pressing his palm to it. Bucky watches him with wide eyes. “Loki, I’ll kill you.”

“Well, seems like we figured that one out”, Clint comments. Thor rushes over and presses his hand to Steve’s back, taking on the electrical charge as he had with Loki. Steve collapses, successfully caught by Bucky, groaning in pain. Tony tries to erase the memory of Steve’s widened eyes as the electricity coursed through him, every muscle tensed and unable to move, because _damn, that was more traumatizing than I expected_.

Loki sits up slowly. “I fucking hate this place.” He’s still twitching slightly, as if not all electricity left him.

“You cursed like a human!” Tony yells, pointing at him. Loki raises an eyebrow. “Just interesting”, he mumbles, looking away.

“So no threats of death or violence”, Steve concludes, leaning against Bucky with a hand pressed to his forehead. “Let’s avoid those, yeah?”

“Do you think this punishment was chosen because our captor knows Thor can remedy it?” Natasha wonders. 

“In that case, they at least don’t want us to die”, Tony comments, “so there’s that.”

“Fantastic news”, Clint comments sarcastically. “Well, if they don’t want that, they could damn well provide some food and water because I’m dying here.”

A small, square patch of wall opens up behind Tony and several water bottles tumble down onto the floor. Before he’s managed to even get a brief look at what might be out there, the wall is as smooth and impenetrable as it was before.

There’s eight bottles, so Tony hands one to each person and god respectively before getting seated on the floor and emptying his in practically one swallow. In hindsight, he probably should’ve rationed it, but it seems that the cell might come with room service, so he forces himself not to worry too much.

He brings his legs up to his chest and tries not to watch as Loki uses the contents of his own bottle to carefully clean Thor’s wound. He doesn’t know what to think.


End file.
